Read Gray Back Bad Bear (Gray Back Bears Book 1) for Free Online Page B

water as fast as she could, adrenaline dumping into her system.
    Matt wasn’t breaking the surface to breathe, and the splashing was growing smaller as if he was being dragged under. She had to save him! “Matt!” she screamed, diving into the water. She swam as fast as her arms and legs could carry her, took a huge gulp of air, then submerged to try to grab him. Opening her eyes underwater didn’t help much. She couldn’t see thanks to the falls churning up silt from the bottom, but when her hand clamped on Matt’s arm, he yanked her to him, and she could see him well enough. He was grinning, the pig-headed anus-cake.
    She screamed underwater and blew out all the air in her lungs, then swam up to the surface. Gasping oxygen, she kicked hard enough to splash him in the face when he broke the surface. She headed to the shore, fuming at his prank. Not funny at all.
    Matt was laughing, and she wanted to claw his sexy, infuriating eyeballs out.
    “Nerd. Nerd! Willa! It was a joke, and look, now I know you can swim like a fish. No bobbing.”
    “Yeah!” she screeched. “I guess I can swim when I think my friend is dying . Congratu-fucking-lations on your epic discovery.”
    Matt’s hands latched onto her arm. “I’m sorry. It was a bad joke. I didn’t know you would get so upset. Wait, are you crying?”
    She was, in fact, sobbing like a badass. Warm tears streamed down her face. “I thought you were going to die. I’m traumatized now, Matt!”
    “Aw, Nerd, were you worried about me?” His voice was flippant, and she imagined he was like that with all the girls he met.
    “Don’t,” she gritted out, touching bottom and standing to glare at him. “That little sarcastic attitude probably works with the girls you sleep with, but I’m not them. If something happened to you, it wouldn’t just be a story I’d go back home and tell my friends. It would rip me up, you asshole.”
    “Hey,” he said, grabbing her arm again as she turned to stomp out of the water. “I’m sorry. I didn’t… I’m not used to people caring like that. I thought you’d let me splash around for a while.”
    “I thought a fucking crocodile was eating you!”
    “Fear number one hundred eighty-two?” His smile was less certain now.
    “It’s not funny, Matt.”
    He pulled her against him so fast, she was shocked into stillness. “I like that you thought it might be a crocodile, and you still dove in to help me. Shh, no more crying. I’m sorry. I really won’t prank you again. For at least a day.”
    “Har har.”
    “Do you forgive me?”
    “You have a boner again.”
    “Oh good God, are you going to point it out every time I get one? It’s unavoidable. You getting all protective is a turn-on.”
    Willa eased back, hands still splayed on his taut chest. “So I do affect you…sexually?”
    Matt made a ticking sound behind his teeth. “Do you have a vagina?”
    She gave him a dead-eyed look. “Yes, Matt. I have one of those.”
    “Then you affect me sexually. It’s nothing personal, Willa. I get turned on easily.”
    He spun back toward the waterfall and began walking through the river toward it, leaving her near the bank.
    And just like that, he’d reminded her that both her feet were still firmly planted in the unsexy sands of the friendship desert.
    Up front, Matt stopped and turned, waiting for her to catch up. “Hey, remember that time you thought I was dying and tried to save me?” His obnoxious grin was back.
    She splashed deeper and frog swam to him. “Yeah, but I learned my lesson and will never help you again.”
    “Still mad then?”
    “Nope, just unaffected by your trickery.”
    Matt hooked his arms around her waist and swung her wide as they treaded water. Waves lapped at his chin as he grinned at her with a cocky smile that probably got him in a lot of girls’ panties.
    The left side of his face was bruised but was already turning the green color of healing.
    “Did you get in a fight?”
    “With a